A Fine Spring Day
by ShadoutCarver
Summary: Bob spends a fine spring day outside, but not with Harry


Title: A Fine Spring Day  
Author: ShadoutCarver  
TV verse  
Disclaimer: Dresden Files belongs to Jim Butcher and Scifi Channel  
Summary: Bob enjoys a nice day out, but not with Harry

- - -

An unfamiliar voice called me. I emerged from my skull and found myself in exquisite surroundings. A beautiful spring day had brought out a riot of flowers. The sky was a deep blue and filled with pure white clouds. I could see new leaves in the trees and there was a fine brook close by as well as large climbing rocks.

There was no Dresden close by. There was a flustered young lady trying to juggle a large spell book, a smaller notebook and various magical aids such as her rod, chalk, and various bags of powders or potions. I couldn't help but notice the large hammer sitting next to my skull.

"You are going to destroy me."

"You are evil." She barely looked up from her preparations.

"If I may ask, where is Harry Dresden?"

"He won't find us. The police are keeping him busy."

I closed my eyes and let out a quiet sigh of relief. She had merely stolen me, not harmed Harry. I approached her and examined her spell book and notebook. She was apparently trying to translate from Sumerian to English then back into Latin.

"That should read 'thrall of darkness' not 'pall of the darkest'." I said, leaning in close behind her.

She stiffened. "I know what I'm doing, you evil ghost."

"Of course you do, child."

"I'm not a child, I'm twenty two years old."

"And I am nearly 700, my dear girl."

She was entering my correction in her notebook. I made a few others. She looked at me, irritated.

"You are evil, why should I believe you."

"I may be evil, but I am also good. I was so good at being evil that they cursed me. Trust me child, I know spells."

She glared at me.

I went back to enjoying my surroundings.

"Thank you, for bringing me out here to do this." I said, watching a hummingbird flit between flowers.

She barely looked up from her book

"It was the only place I could get away from the other student wardens..."

She looked up and seemed to notice where she was for the first time. She looked at me and frowned. I suppose evil ghosts aren't supposed to enjoy a gorgeous spring day.

She began to clear a space on a nearby flat rock. She used black charcoal to make a circle.

"Did you purify the charcoal, my dear?"

"Oops."

"You can use white chalk, you know,"

"I knew that."

"Of course. Forgive me, Milady."

Another glare.

She put my skull in the circle and added the other items, then completed writing the symbols. Everything seemed correct.

She turned and looked at me.

"Please, you have to get back in your skull now." was that almost politeness?

I was a bit disappointed. I had hoped to meet my end in this lovely spot, standing outside my prison.

"May I have a minute, child?"

She hesitated, frowning again.

"Of course."

I drank in my last sights. The sky, the trees and flowers, the small animals going about their pursuits, I could almost remember the smell of such days. A hummingbird stopped its darting to hover in front of me, looking me straight in the face. It darted off. Goodbye.

"I am ready, Milady." I said, and returned to my prison for the last time.

I heard her begin chanting the spell. Then she stopped. I waited. She did not continue.

I emerged from my skull to find her sitting with her back against the rock. She was crying softly.

I 'sat' beside her with my own back to the rock.

"Tell me, my dear, why do you wish to be a warden?"

She sniffled and hiccuped.

"I have to be. My mother and sisters are all wardens. So were my grandparents."

Tears were still running down her face and she wiped them off in a frustrated growl.

"Wardens kill." I told her. "if you cannot destroy a willing ghost executed over 500 years ago for a lifetime of mastering black magic how will you deal with beheading a very much alive, very much unwilling seventeen year old who broke laws of magic she didn't even know existed?"

She looked at me and the tears started again. "They all expect me to..."

"What, dear child, be someone you're not? If they seriously expect you to become a warden then they have not been paying proper attention to you. I would venture to say they do not know you at all."

She sniffled.

"What would you do if you were free to do anything?" I asked her.

She mumbled something about a school.

"I didn't quite hear..."

"Veterinary school." She looked ashamed.

"Then that is where you shall go." a deep voice interrupted us, startling the girl.

Warden Morgan appeared abruptly in front of us. I wondered how long he had been watching us.

"The ghost is right, Melinda, you were never meant to be a Warden. Perhaps now you will believe me."

"Good, if were done with the self discovery, can I have Bob back now?" Dresden's voice.

Oh good. The cavalry. "Hello, Harry."

"Yeah, come on Bob, we've got work to do. Goodbye Mellisa... Matilda... whatever, please don't steal Bob again. Warden. "

I gave Melinda a half bow, smiling. "It has been wonderful meeting you, lovely child, I hope you find your place outside the Wardens. Healing animals is a worthy calling. I know your family will understand that." I smiled at her confused look and retreated into the skull Harry was holding in the crook of his arm.

The last thing I heard as Harry walked away was: "He's supposed to be evil. He was nothing but kind. I don't understand."

I did not hear the Warden's response.

"Bob." Harry said softly as he walked away. "I think we need to talk."


End file.
